


Five for the Five

by Estirose



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Other, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8918569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Abigail and Erin do a bit of exploring in the mines.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [graveExcitement (arachnids)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnids/gifts).



"Are you ready?" Erin asked as they stood outside the entrance of the mines. Abigail wondered how long they'd been out there. She knew that they got up early, but no doubt had spent some time with their crops and chickens before heading across town. She herself wasn't an early riser, but for them, she'd set her alarm and gone off, almost running over Shane on her way out the door.

"I am!" She shouldered her own backpack. Her sword was sheathed on the side of her pack, just like Erin's was. "The two of us together will get through this."

Erin grinned. Their eyes were a nice blue-green, set in a round, almost chubby face framed by green hair. They'd pulled their hair into a ponytail today, she noted. "You don't mind if we start on level 20 - I'd like to do a spot of fishing."

She'd never been that far down in the mines herself. She'd tried, wanted to be like Erin, but to be honest, it was scary. Not because she was a girl, but because she wasn't used to such things. Erin had hugged her, told her that they had been scared too, the first time they went down in the mines, and if it weren't for the need to get ore that didn't cost so much, they wouldn't go in either. 

"Sounds good to me!" With Erin by her side, she could take a level deeper than she'd ever been on before. Especially since Erin had gotten her a better sword to fight monsters off with. 

Erin took her hand and squeezed it, a smile on their face. They walked hand in hand together into the cave and to the elevator, squishing in to the tight space. She felt like laughing, suddenly. "What're you thinking?" Erin asked.

"More feeling than thinking. Life's great right now!" This was the kind of life she wanted, after all. Not the life of the local grocer's daughter, but the free, exploring life of adventure. It was a life that she wanted to share with Erin, though she was embarrassed to admit she only realized it after her seance. The spirits had seen something she really hadn't wanted to admit, that she loved Erin and wanted to be with them. Erin, who liked spooky stuff and cemeteries, and wasn't at all patronizing about her desire to go down into the caves. She'd been scared, and Erin had shown her that it was okay to be afraid.

The elevator opened at the 20th floor, and Abigail sat down on the floor while Erin got out their fishing rod. She wasn't that great at fishing herself - it wasn't something she had a knack for, at least what it came to figuring out fish rhythms - but she respected that Erin was. She watched them as they pulled out a few things that weren't fish before getting two ghostfish in a row.

"Are you ready? Slime, grubs, and flies in the next ten or so levels." Erin put their fishing rod back, smiling a bit, but she could also see their shudder. She knew, from Erin's recountings of their time in the mines, that there were few things more irritating than the grubs. The flies too, but it was the grubs that Erin complained about the most.

"We'll get through them. Together, remember?" Abigail put her hand in theirs. There were two of them, after all. They could surely get the grubs before the grubs became flies.

"Right." They gave her a brighter smile. "Ready?"

"Yes!" She may have bounced on her toes a bit. Erin went down the ladder first, and Abigail followed quickly after them. 

The twenty-first level of the caves was full of large, route-blocking rocks that the two of them had to shatter, and shortly after they cleared a few, a slime rushed at them. And then there were suddenly two, but Erin had their sword out, and Abigail fished hers out as well. She wished, as she watched Erin swing the sword, that she was half as good at fighting. Erin had told her that it just took practice, but she swore that they had a natural talent for it as well. Which was good, because Erin sucked at farming.

They hacked at another set of rocks together, and then Erin groaned. "Grubs!" they proclaimed. "We have to corner them - the sword blows will toss them too far away and they'll be invulnerable."

"Right!" Erin would have protected her if they needed to, but it was a bit of reassurance that they thought she was fully capable. She dove in, swinging rapidly and wildly with the sword, trying to get the grubs before they became flies. She saw Erin swing at another group, keeping safely out of the way of her sword thrusts.

Between them, they safely took care of the grubs just before the grubs would have gone into their cocoons. "Want to do this for the next few levels?" Erin asked, with a gleam in their eye. "At least we haven't run into any rock crabs."

"We can take on everything!" Okay, maybe not everything, and maybe she'd have to become more dependent on Erin's fighting ability, but she didn't want to sound negative. Not with Erin, because even though they seemed so confident, she knew that they didn't like the levels either.

"Almost everything. Let's find that ladder!" Erin looked over at the rocks, and she sobered a little, remembering that the two of them had a long ways to go.

The next few hours took forever. They mined, they fought, they killed far more slimes and grubs and flies than Abigail wanted to think about. They had to keep pounding rocks to find the ladder down, though for two or three levels, Erin created stairs down for them just to get them through faster. They snacked on food from Erin's kitchen and from what the two of them had foraged. Finally, they reached a level with no monsters or rocks, and Abigail recognized how tired she was.

"It's getting late," Erin said. "Do you want to go on?" Their smile had been replaced by a concerned frown.

"Um..." They had picked up some precious stones, including some that would make some great snacks someday. "What's on next level?" She was sure Erin had told her. Erin knew everything.

"Stone golems and bats. The bats are annoying, the golems are okay as long as you have light. At least they're not grubs?"

The tone of their voice told her that they were just as tired. "I think we did good."

"I think so too." They looked relieved, at least to her. "I'm glad that you came with me. It made things much easier."

"Yeah, me too! I think I'd like to rest before we do it again, but...."

"Next time, level 40. The coal sprites are much, much less irritating." Erin tilted their head. "I'd go through levels 31-39 first, though, just for the bat wings. Those things fetch a nice price. And you don't have to worry about watering them!"

Abigail tried to visualize Erin planting and watering monsters in their fields, and burst out in laughter once more. Maybe it was because she was tired.

"Or maybe I should adopt some coal sprites." They tapped their chin. "What?"

"You're adorable," Abigail told them. 

"I am?" There was a certain wide-eyedness to their look, and Abigail wondered if they realized how cute they were.

"Yeah. Give me a kiss." She never would have asked if it hadn't been Erin, but it was. 

They blinked, but after a moment did, and it was glorious.


End file.
